Iron Chef Symphonia: Friendly Fire
by OkonoMiyagi
Summary: Nothing says friendship than the times that try men's souls. Especially if a 60-minute culinary battle is involved.
1. Forging the Battle Plans

**Iron Chef Symphonia: Friendly Fire**

Summary: Nothing says friendship than the times that try men's souls. Especially if a 60-minute culinary battle is involved.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Iron Chef, or any of the characters involved.

Author's Note: All characters are assumed to be speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted.

**Chapter 1: Forging the Battle Plans**

**==BROTHERS==**

_If memory serves me right, there is a bond that some of my Iron Chefs share that cannot be put into mere words._

_ These friendships have transcended the kitchen in ways that even I struggle to understand._

_ "It's fun to be with him. He's the older brother."_

_ "Not by many years. … At first, Chen had a bad image of me."_

_ "'Bad' isn't right. He looked stuck-up to me, with all sorts of airs. He's a French chef. I thought he must be a snob. But that changed as we worked together. Although I'm junior to him, he accepts me with a big heart. So it's fun to be with him. That's made our friendship last so long after the show ended in Japan."_

_ "Even before we set out on the journey to rejuvenate the world, he and I were best friends."_

_ "We seem like the most unlikely best friends in the world, but I think it's our cooking that brings us together. Even if I had to show him some of the finer points."_

**==FIGHTING 17TH==**

_ It's always been my dream to do another Iron Chef vs. Iron Chef tag match. I couldn't resist planning a special tag-team battle to test just how good of friends these four actually are. So let's start finding out._

_ Let me introduce the two teams that will clash in this confrontation of different worlds…first, the Japanese team, the two longest serving of my Iron Chefs, Chen Kenichi and Hiroyuki Sakai…_

_ …versus the Sylvaranti team, my two newest Iron Chefs, Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage._

_ Both teams met to plan their strategy last week…_

**~料理の鉄シンフォニア~**

Genis sat in the open kitchen of the Grand Hotel Altamira, notebook open and pen in hand. The pages were filled with sketches of potential dish designs that paid no mind to a particular theme ingredient.

_I never realized how quiet this restaurant is until I sat in it when it's completely empty, _he thought to himself. Indeed, Genis had picked a day the restaurant was closed to discuss battle strategies with Lloyd. The young mage had become one of the show's strongest Iron Chefs, having only lost two battles out of the twenty-four he had fought.

Lloyd, too, wasn't too shabby himself as an Iron Chef. Although Genis's win percentage was better than his (out of 14 battles, Lloyd had lost four of them), Lloyd's battles typically generated higher ratings.

"Now where is that confounded twin swordsman?" Genis muttered aloud to himself. "He was supposed to show up half an hour ago…"

"Hey, Genis, sorry I'm late!"

"Oh, about time you showed up!"

"Hey, I had a good reason, the fishermen were giving me a hard time with what I was trying to buy, and I ran into some bell pepper heads on my way here. These could come in handy though…" Lloyd said, dropping some green bell peppers on the countertop.

"Well, we'll see if we can use them later. Meantime, check out this plan I have. It'll be perfect against Chen and Sakai…"

**~料理の鉄シンフォニア~**

The veteran Iron Chefs were consulting with each other in Sakai's Meltokio restaurant, writing up a menu that rivaled Michiba's famous calligraphy. As Sakai was writing it out, Chen decided to poke a little fun at him.

"You know, if Michiba-san was here, I wonder what he'd say about your handwriting."

"Well, he wouldn't be able to read this, I can guarantee that!" Sakai replied, pointing out the French on his menu.

_La Saveur Originalle,_ it read.

"Heh, neither can I," Chen said, a little deflated. "How am I supposed to go off a plan that I can't read?"

"Chen-san, have you heard of a movement called 'nouvelle Chinois'?" Sakai asked.

"Oh yes of course, how could I not?" he replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm thinking we each do two dishes of our own, then collaborate on the last one. It'll be a nouvelle Chinois masterpiece!"

Chen lit up immediately at the thought. "Excellent!"

"We'll teach those young whippersnappers who's boss in the Kitchen Stadium!" Sakai said cheerfully.

"Indeed, with this new strategy we've whipped up, there's no way we're going to lose," Chen replied, equally as cheerfully.

"Here's to a painful summer for Lloyd and Genis!" Sakai added with a smile.

**~料理の鉄シンフォニア~**

"I'm excited for this," Lloyd later said to Genis.

"I think we'll win as long as you don't screw up the sauces," Genis shot back.

"Hey, that was an accident and you know it!" Lloyd shouted defensively, alluding to his mistake of using coconut milk instead of regular milk for one of the sauces they were testing

Genis seemed to pay him no mind. "Just you wait, Sakai-san!" he said. "You might be the King of Iron Chefs, but we're staging a coup!"

"…erm, what he said!" Lloyd replied. "What's a coup?" he later whispered.

Genis only shook his head and laughed.

**~料理の鉄シンフォニア~**

_Now, you four Iron Chefs! Show us the power of friendship and use all your abilities to fight the greatest battle we have ever seen!_


	2. Finding the Will to Fight

**Chapter 2: Finding the Will to Fight**

Kitchen Stadium was buzzing with excitement as a crowd of nearly 200 people found their seats to watch the most talked-about match in Aselia. The portraits on the Iron Chef dais were being changed—Sakai was still in his usual spot, but workers were in the process of moving Chen's portrait one spot over and placing Genis's in its place. Lloyd's portrait was to replace Kobe's for the time being.

Backstage, the Iron Chef teams were gathering their thoughts in their respective dressing rooms. Chen and Sakai were enjoying a pre-battle glass of wine that Sakai had brought from his restaurant, while Genis and Lloyd opted for a more youth-friendly glass of kirima juice.

The young mage was pacing back and forth anxiously, while the twin swordsman propped his feet onto the table in the middle of the room.

"You realize who we're up against, right?" Genis asked. "The two longest-serving Iron Chefs. They've done this the longest, they've done this the most times, they've won more times."

"Since when did long odds ever stop us, Genis?" Lloyd replied. "Did you not learn anything from our journey? Tell me one instance when the odds were realistically tilted in our favor," he added, draining his glass.

Genis took another sip quietly, as if to signal "you're right" to Lloyd.

"Now, am I nervous? Of course I am. But you know they're not going to take us lightly, because they know what we're capable of. And we're gonna put up the best fight we can, right?"

Genis said nothing, and finally decided to sit down.

"Dude, why are you so nervous? You beat Sakai once, surely you can do it again?"

"That was last time, when everyone else was around. I felt a lot more relaxed then," Genis said. "I really didn't feel like I had anything to lose then. But now, with us being called 'Iron Chef' and all that, there's a lot more at stake—we have a reputation of winning—"

"Against people who aren't called 'Iron Chefs,' Genis," Lloyd interrupted. "Look, let's not take this too seriously. The Chairman has branded this as the Battle of Best Friends. It's supposed to be fun, why don't we keep it that way? Who cares if we lose? It won't be the end of one world, or even two."

Genis gave a nervous laugh, drained his glass, and clapped Lloyd on the shoulder.

"Let's go!"

**~料理の鉄シンフォニア~**

Applause filled Kitchen Stadium as Chairman Kaga made his entrance and took his familiar place behind the ingredient stand. He smiled at the audience of 200, whose applause showed no signs of dying down. Then he held up his hand, quieting the audience, and began to speak.

"They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," Kaga said, eliciting some chuckles from the crowd. "When I first moved my Kitchen Stadium here, my goal was to promote peace through the art of cooking. And in the middle of it all, friendships have been born," he added, gesturing to the portraits on the dais behind him.

"The bond of friendship is a unique connection that is quite difficult to put into words. It is my hope that today's battle will demonstrate what friendship can achieve, so we can put it into words," he said as the crowd applauded.

"So let me call upon my Iron Chefs who will test the bonds of their friendships. Yomigaeru-ai…IRON CHEF!"

The lights went dark, the portraits began to glow, and the crowd applauded wildly as the four Iron Chefs began to rise out of the billowing fog.

"Making their ascent into the ethereal atmosphere of Kitchen Stadium, the nation's culinary leaders…YOUR Iron Chefs!" Fukui announced.

"The Japanese team: Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai; and Iron Chef Chinese, Chen Kenichi…versus the Sylvaranti team: Iron Chef Sylvaranti the First, Genis Sage; and Iron Chef Sylvaranti the Second, Lloyd Irving! Here they stand, the invincible men of culinary skills!"

The four Iron Chefs shook hands at the dais—Chen being especially careful not to cut anybody with his cleaver. As he and Lloyd both left to collect their aprons, Sakai noticed that Genis was a bit more reserved than he usually was. Upon shaking hands, Sakai noticed that the young mage's hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Let's each do our best," he said.

The young mage bowed to his senior, quickly muttering a word of thanks before they both descended the stairs to kitchen level, where they anxiously awaited Kaga's announcement of the theme ingredient.

"What ingredient symbolizes friendship? What would be perfect for friends to work with?" Kaga asked. "I thought long and hard about this. And when I couldn't come up with a single ingredient, I then thought of two."

Chen tilted his head, bearing a curious expression on his face.

"When things are a perfect match," Kaga continued, "you typically say they go together like…these two ingredients. And that's when I knew they'd be perfect for today's battle. OK, let's announce it. Today's theme…is THIS!"

Kaga released a cloud of smoke as he ripped the red tablecloth off the ingredient stand, and several baskets began to ascend into view. Sakai smirked, while Lloyd's eyes widened. Genis only frowned.

"Today's themes are…BREAD AND BUTTER!"


End file.
